17:49
Tieng Anh Vui
The US Senate has begun voting on a bill to reopen the government and raise the federal debt limit, with hours to spare before the nation risks default.
The Democratic-controlled Senate's bipartisan compromise is expected to win swift approval.
It will then be sent to the House of Representatives, whose Republican leadership has begrudgingly said it will support the measure.
It comes hours before the deadline to raise the $16.7tn (£10.5tn) limit.
The deal would extend the federal borrowing limit until 7 February and fund the government to 15 January.
The bill would also create a panel of Senate and House members to draw up a longer-term budget deal.
On the floor of the US Senate earlier, Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid said: "Our country came to the brink of disaster. This legislation ends a stand-off that ground the work of Washington to a halt."
Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, Sen Reid's negotiating partner, said the deal "is far less than many of us hoped for, quite frankly, but far better than what some had sought," he said.
In a statement, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said "blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us".
The US Treasury has been using what it has called "extraordinary measures" to pay its bills since the nation reached its current debt limit in May.
It said those methods would be exhausted by 17 October, leaving the US unable to meet all of its debt and other fiscal obligations if the limit was not raised.
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